Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 74

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 74

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In 1886 Mr. Slocum was appointed a park commissioner of Detroit, and he was for sev- eral years in turn commissioner, vice-president and president of the board. He has made several trips to Europe, where, being naturally attracted by the wonderful dykes of Holland, which have reclaimed vast tracts of lowlands from the sea, he spent much time in studying the methods and results of the Dutch en- gineers. The knowledge thus gained, to- gether with that secured through a careful study of the parks of Europe, came into use- ful play in the smaller field of Belle Isle park, which owes much of its attractiveness to the efforts and advice of Mr. Slocum while

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a member of the board of park commissioners.

In politics Mr. Slocum has ever been aligned as a loyal advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he has been an active and valued worker in behalf of its cause. In 1869 he represented the Third senatorial dis- trict in the state legislature, and he proved a popular and valuable working member of the upper house, his course being marked by conscientious application and earnest efforts to promote wise legislation. He was always an active member of the Michigan Club and other political organizations of his party, and took great interest in all the senatorial elec- tions. Those who know Mr. Slocum appre- ciate him for his independence and the frank- ness with which he presents his views, without demanding that others shall endorse them. In 1896 he was appointed, by Governor John T. Rich, an inspector of the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard Lake.

Mr. Slocum is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Historical Associa- tion, the American Forestry Association, the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Municipal League, the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the University Club, the Fel- lowcraft Club, the Bankers' Club, the Detroit Assemblies and of other minor clubs and as- sociations of Detroit. He is also a member of the Chi Psi Club of New York and the Peninsular Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church and a trustee of Harris Hall, in connection with the state university, at Ann Arbor. Harris Hall was endowed with the Slocum lectureship by his wife, out of respect for the late Rt. Rev. Samuel S. Harris, bishop of the diocese of Michigan, who was the founder of said institution and deeply interested in its welfare. When in Detroit Mr. Slocum attends Christ church, and at his summer home, on Slocum's Island, he is senior warden of St. Thomas' church, Trenton, which was founded by his grand- father, Colonel Abraham C. Truax.

On the 30th of July, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Slocum to Charlotte

Gross Wood, daughter of the late Ransom E. Wood, an honored pioneer and influential capitalist of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mrs. Slocum died in Dresden, Germany, on the 6th of June, 1891. Mr. Slocum maintains two homes-one in Detroit and the other his beau- tiful summer residence about sixteen miles below Detroit, on the banks of the Detroit river.

JOHN B. HOWARTH.

Detroit has made definite and substantial progress in industrial lines within the last quarter of a century, and its commercial im- portance in a relative way is of a scope to be a source of gratification to those who have con- served this result. Among the number is the subject of this sketch, who is now treasurer of The Pingree Company and who has gained for himself a secure place as one of the alert and enterprising business men of the city.

Mr. Howarth claims as the place of his na- tivity the old Bay State, having been born in the village of Graniteville, Westford township, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, on the 29th of March, 1858, and being a son of George and Margaret (Bradshaw) Howarth, both of whom was born in England. The parents came to America in 1842 and took up their residence in Massachusetts. The father found employment as an expert mechanic until 1875, when he removed to Detroit, where he passed the remainder of his life; he died in 1890 and his wife passed away in 1899.

The subject of this review received his early educational training in the public schools of his native state and supplemented this disci- pline by a course in Westford Academy, in Westford Centre. He was seventeen years of age at the time of the family removal to De- troit, and he soon secured a position in the office of the well known shoe-manufacturing firm of Pingree & Smith. That he won for himself a secure position in the confidence and esteem of the firm is shown in the fact that in 1883 he was admitted to partnership in the business. This connection continued until

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after the death of Hon. Hazen S. Pingree, and upon the incorporation of the business, in 1902, he became one of the principal stockholders and was made treasurer of the company, an incum- bency which he has since retained. He has proven an able and discriminating executive and has reinforced the distinctive business abil- ity which he had previously manifested and which has led to his preferment.

Mr. Howarth has not hedged in his affairs by bounds of purely personal interest but, rather, has shown a broad-minded and liberal attitude as a citizen and business man and has done all in his power to forward the material and civic prosperity of his home city. He was one of the organizers of the Detroit Board of Commerce and was a member of its committee on constitution and by-laws. He was also elected a member of the first board of directors of the institution and served as a member of the executive committee of the body, having been chairman of this committee for one year.

Mr. Howarth has been a zealous worker in the ranks of the Republican party and has taken a deep interest in local affairs of a public nature. He is at the present time (1908) treasurer of the Progressive Municipal Voters' League, which has done much to further effec- tive administration of the city government. His religious faith is that of the Protestant Epis- copal church, of which he is a communicant and in which he is a zealous worker. He holds membership and is a vestryman in the parish of St. Paul's church and is a treasurer of the diocesan board of missions of the diocese of Michigan. He is identified with the Detroit Club and other social organizations. His con- cern in the promotion of moral and religious causes is shown in his intimate association with the work of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, and he is president of the Detroit or- ganization of the same.

In 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Howarth to Miss Frances C. Perkins, a daughter of Norman C. Perkins, a prominent editor and attorney of Detroit, and the children of this union are three in number, namely : Marjorie, Winslow and Donald Gridley.

HENRY STEPHENS.

Among those who were prominently con- cerned in the development of the great lum- bering industry in Michigan and who held precedence as representative business men of the state was the subject of this memoir. He was a man of distinctive force of character, strong initiative power and sterling integrity, and he left a definite impress upon the annals of his time.

Henry Stephens was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, March 14, 1823, and was the only child of Robert L. and Emily (O'Brien) Stephens. In 1830 the father came to Ameri- ca and located at Kingston, Ontario. The sub- ject of this memoir was the only child of his father's first marriage, and the latter had chil- dren from two subsequent marriages. Rob- ert L. Stephens died at sea while en route to Ireland, his native land.

As his father was in very moderate circum- stances, the subject of this review was "bound out" when a lad of nine years. He was per- mitted to attend the district schools a portion of each year, but his early advantages in this line were very limited. A man of strong men- tality, he effectually overcame this handicap of early years, having attained a broad fund of information and developed much intellect- ual power through personal application and through intimate association with men and affairs. During his youth he was employed at farm work and as a clerk in a country store. Becoming assured that better opportunities were afforded in the United States, in 1844, soon after reaching his majority, Mr. Stephens came to Michigan and located at Romeo, where with a capital of three hundred dollars, he es- tablished himself in the general merchandise business, beginning operations, as may be in- ferred, on a very modest scale. He was ener- getic and enterprising, gained and held the confidence and good will of the community and met with definite success in business. Fnally he opened a branch store at Almont, Lapeer county, where likewise he built up a good business.

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In 1856 Mr. Stephens came to Detroit, where he established himself in the hardware busi- ness, under the firm name of Stephens & Mar- vin. Soon afterward he purchased Mr. Mar- vin's interest and thus became the sole owner of the business. The financial panic of 1857 brought serious reverses to his brother, James Stephens, who was engaged in the mercantile business in what was known as the old "Checker" store, on Woodward avenue. In attempting to assist his brother Mr. Stephens crippled himself and was compelled to dispose of his own business. In 1861 he took up his residence in Almont and assumed full charge of the business which he had continued in that village.

In the period leading up to the civil war he was one of the active workers in the "un- derground railway," and many negroes were helped to Canada and freedom by him and his associates. The cellar of his home at Al- mont was a station on this historic railway.

During the civil war Mr. Stephens specu- lated largely in cotton goods and nails, through which means he laid the foundation for his large and substantial fortune. He was among the first to realize the value of pine lands, and as early as 1868 he had purchased large tracts of timber land in Tuscola county, as well as in adjoining counties. His first mill was located on Clear Lake, nine miles north of the present Imlay City, in Goodland town- ship, Lapeer county, and was devoted to the manufacture of shingles. He later purchased a large tract of land north of Lapeer and there operated the largest lumber plant of its kind south of Saginaw, in the Saginaw valley; also developed a large business in handling lumber purchased from other mill operators in that section. Later he erected a large plant at St. Helen's, Roscommon county, being the founder of the village mentioned. This was one of the largest and best equipped plants in the state and Mr. Stephens built up a mag- nificent enterprise. He employed in his mills and camps from three to five thousand men and utilized an average of five hundred horses.

He also built and operated many miles of logging railroad.

In 1882 Mr. Stephens organized a stock company, under the title of Henry Stephens & Company, and the interested principals in the concern were himself and his two sons, Henry and Albert, and twelve old and trusted employes. Mr. Stephens continued to be ac- tively identified with the management of the business until his death, which occurred Feb- ruary 22, 1886. Soon after his demise the business of Henry Stephens & Company was closed and the concern was succeeded by the Stephens Lumber Company, under which title the enterprise is still continued, under the ownership and active control of his son Henry. Mr. Stephens was known as one of the largest lumber operators in the state at the period when the lumber industry was one of the greatest in this commonwealth. His mills at St. Helen's alone had an output of one hun- dred and twenty-five million feet in a single year, and within a period of fourteen years more than a billion feet of lumber were cut. Mr. Stephens was a man of great capacity for the handling of affairs of breadth and im- portance, and his success was the diametrical result of the application of his splendid ener- gies along legitimate lines of enterprise. He so ordered his course as to retain at all times the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.

In politics Mr. Stephens was a staunch ad- herent of the Republican party, having been one of its founders, at the historic meeting "under the oaks," at Jackson, but he never had any desire for public office. He was a liberal, broad-guaged man, well fortified in his convictions and never lacking the courage of the same.

September 20, 1853, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stephens to Miss Clarinda Leet, daughter of Dr. Albert Leet, who was a pioneer physician and influential citizen of Macomb county, where he took up his resi- dence as early as 1820. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were born three children-Henry, Albert L., and Catherine. The daughter be-

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came the wife of Charles McIver, and she died in 1898, in California. Mrs. Stephens still survives her honored husband and is now seventy-seven years of age (1907).

JOHN S. NEWBERRY.

Bearing the full patronymic of his honored father and well upholding the prestige of the family name, the subject of this review is num- bered among the progressive and public- spirited citizens and representative business men of his native city, where, in addition to various other capitalistic interests of impor- tance, he is president and general manager of the Detroit Steel Castings Company.

Mr. Newberry was born in the beautiful old family homestead, 483 Jefferson avenue, De- troit, on the 21st of July, 1866, and is a son of Hon. John S. and Helen P. (Handy) New- berry. A memorial tribute to his father ap- pears on other pages of this work, so that further review of the family history is not de- manded in the present connection. The earlier educational training of the subject of this sketch was secured in the Barstow school, De- troit, and the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard Lake. After leaving the latter insti- tution he prosecuted his studies for two years in Chester Military School, at Chester, Penn- sylvania, and in 1890 and 1891 he was a stu- dent in Cornell University, New York, where he completed a special course year, in the En- gineering department.

Upon leaving Cornell Mr. Newberry re- turned to Detroit and became assistant man- ager of the Detroit Steel & Spring Company. In 1902 he was one of the organizers of the Detroit Steel Castings Company, of which he became assistant manager at the time of incor- poration. In 1905 he was elected to succeed his brother, Truman H. Newberry, now assist- ant secretary of the United States navy, as president and general manager of the company. He has since administered the affairs of the concern with marked discrimination and ability and has shown distinctive qualities of leader- ship and initiative,-traits which brought his

distinguished father so prominently forward in the industrial world. He is a director of the National Bank of Commerce, Detroit, and is a trustee of Grace hospital, of which his father was one of the founders and most liberal sup- porters. Mr. Newberry is a staunch adherent of the Republican party but has never been moved to enter the domain of practical politics. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Com- merce, the Detroit Club, the Yondotega Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Detroit Country Club, the Detroit Automobile Club, and the Old Club, at St. Clair Flats. He exemplifies in his courteous bearing and democratic ways the gracious and cultured influences under which he was reared, and he enjoys marked popular- ity in the business and social circles of his na- tive city, to whose interests he is insistently loyal, even as he is fully appreciative of the city's manifold attractions.

Mr. Newberry has been prominently indenti- fied with the Naval Reserves of Michigan, with which he served for six consecutive years,- 1894-9, both inclusive. During the Spanish- American war he was chief quartermaster on the United States cruiser "Yosemite," and in the department of general history in this vol- ume will be found reference to the service of the Michigan Naval Reserves at the time of the war mentioned. At the present time Mr. New- berry is a member of the Gilbert Wilkes Com- mand, Naval War Veterans. In the industrial and commercial department of this publication will be found a review of the Detroit Steel Castings Company, of which Mr. Newberry is president.

On the 30th of September, 1908, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Newberry to Mrs. Edith Stanton Field, daughter of Alex- ander M. Stanton, a representative citizen of Detroit and a member of an old and honored family of this city.

FRANK S. MUNGER.

On other pages of this work, in the sketch of the life of the late James L. Edson, is incorpor- ated a review of the upbuilding of the great

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wholesale dry-goods house of Edson, Moore &cessor. The best voucher for his success and Company, of which Mr. Munger is now the senior partner, having been identified with the concern from his youth to the present time and having won advancement through his fidelity and effective efforts in the connection. As one of the interested principals in this concern and as one of the representative business men of Detroit, he is entitled to distinctive recognition in this historical compilation, which has to do with those who have been the upbuilders of the "Greater Detroit." He was admitted a member of the firm on the withdrawal of Stephen Baldwin from the same.

Mr. Munger is a native of the Wolverine state, where the family was founded in the pioneer days. He was born at Dundee, Mon- roe county, Michigan, in 1850, and is a son of Elizer D. and Mary P. (Simons) ) Munger, the former of whom was born in Connecticut and the latter in Vermont. They came to Michigan in 1836, about a year prior to the admission of the state to the Union, and the father reclaimed a farm in the midst of the wilds of Monroe county, remaining identified with agricultural pursuits until his death. He was a man of inflexible integrity and strong intellectuality and wielded no little influence in his community, where he held various local offices. His wife died in the same county; she was a member of the Congregational church and his political faith was that repre- sented by the Republican party.

Frank S. Munger, the immediate subject of this sketch, received his early educational train- ing in the public schools and had the further advantages involved in the wholesome and vigorous discipline of the farm, where he waxed strong in mental and physical powers. In 1869 he initiated his business career by as- suming a position as clerk in a general- merchandise store at Manchester, Michigan, where he was employed for three years. At the expiration of this period, in 1872, he came to Detroit and entered the employ of the whole- sale dry-goods house of Edson & Moore, of which the present company is the direct suc-

for his status as an enterprising and reliable business man is that afforded in his rise to his present responsible position in the concern with which he has been so long identified and to the furtherance of whose interests he has con- tributed in no small measure. The house is one of the largest of the kind in the state,

The welfare and progress of the city of De- troit are matters of vital interest to Mr. Mun- ger, whose is known as a loyal and public- spirited citizen. In politics, though not an active factor, he exercises his franchise and gives his influence in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he is identified with various civic, fraternal and so- cial organizations.

In the city of Detroit, on the 7th of July, 1875, Mr. Munger was united in marriage to Miss Fannie A. Caverley, who was born and reared in this city, and they have two children, Frank and Helena.

Since the foregoing sketch was prepared Mr. Munger has withdrawn from his active asso- ciation with Edson, Moore & Company, as is indicated in the following extract from the Detroit Free Press of Sunday, November 1, 1908:

Frank S. Munger, senior member of the wholesale dry goods firm of Edson, Moore & Company, and a vice-president of the Whole- salers' Association of Detroit, yesterday re- tired from the firm after more than thirty years' connection with it. His associates in business and the employes of the firm pre- sented him a fine loving cup, manufactured by John Kay especially for the occasion. The presentation was made by Edward J. Koster, of Grand Haven, who has been a traveling salesman for Edson, Moore & Company for thirty-five years. It was an affecting scene, and Mr. Koster's voice broke as he spoke of the kindly treatment of employes by Mr. Munger. Mr. Munger is considered one of the most expert judges of wash goods in the United States and justly carries the reputation of being one of the most upright and able wholesale merchants in the country. When asked as to his future plans, Mr. Munger said he had none made, and would probably take a

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rest. A few weeks ago articles of incorpora- tion were filed by Edson, Moore & Company, hitherto a partnership firm with the nominal capital of one thousand dollars. This was done as a preliminary step to a reorganization of the firm, which will go into effect at the end of the year, when the capital stock will be increased.

GEORGE B. PECK.

On the 3d of November, 1906, in Kansas City, Missouri, occurred the death of George B. Peck, who was a native of Detroit and who honored his native state by his life and serv- ices. While he attained to distinctive success in the business world and was known as one of the world's earnest and indefatigable work- ers, the individuality of the man was best indi- cated in the exalted nobility of his character, in his fervent and dominating Christianity and in his insistent charity, toleration and helpful- ness as a man among men. He was a son of George Peck, one of Detroit's representative citizens, of whom specific mention is made in this publication, and though the field of his labors as a business man was in Kansas City, it is fitting that a brief tribute to his memory be incorporated in this work.

George Butler Peck was born in Detroit, on the 14th of June, 1863, and in the public schools of this city he secured his early educa- tional discipline, after which he took a course in the Michigan Military Academy, at Orchard Lake. At the age of twenty years he was given a position in his father's dry-goods es- tablishment, one of the leading retail concerns of the sort in Detroit at that time, and here he manifested in a most unequivocal way his in- herent talent for business, the result being that he made rapid advancement. His ambition led him to seek a wider experience, and for two years he was employed in the largest retail houses of Albany, New York and Brooklyn. Concerning his further business career the fol- lowing pertinent statements are consonantly entered : "Mr. Peck's resolve to go west came about two years after he left Detroit. He met

L. B. Lester in New York city while Mr. Lester was organizing a dry-goods business in Kansas City, and he became interested in the proposition, taking a block of the stock in the Lester store, and came to Kansas City in Oc- tober, 1889. He was made a director of the company and at once took an active part in the management of the store. On the 15th of July, 1894, Mr. Peck was elected vice-presi- dent of the company. He held this office four years, and on the 15th of July, 1898, with the assistance of his father, bought out the interest of Lester and was elected to the presidency of the company. Under the management of Mr. Peck the business of the store grew rapidly. On the 15th of July, 1901, the directors voted to change the name of the company to the George B. Peck Dry Goods Company."

From the Michigan Presbyterian of No- vember 15, 1906, are gained the following data, appearing in a memoir to Mr. Peck: "A prominent characteristic in Mr. Peck's person- ality was his 'insatiable appetite for hard work,' which he possessed as a family trait and which insured him an ever increasing business suc- cess. But what is regarded as 'getting on in the world' was far from being the ruling mo- tive in Mr. Peck's life. He was first of all a Christian gentleman, and he carried his re- ligion into all the complex affairs of an in- tensely active career. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Kansas City and teacher of a large Sunday-school class of young women, to whom he devoted his best efforts in order to win them to the better life. His religion was not of a kind to be laid aside on Monday morning when he went to the store. A Bible was always on his private desk and it was his habit to read a chapter each day. * * Mr. Peck was noted for his charities. He never refused money to anyone who asked him for assistance. He gave away thousands of dollars in charity which no one ever heard of. For the past seventeen years he has been actively engaged in philanthropic work, both inside and outside his store. He established the Girls' Home Association and

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Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 74

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932 Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 858

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858